Youngsters' mental health programme set to be doubled

Date published: 23 July 2019


A ground-breaking programme to support the mental health of children and young people in Oldham and Rochdale is to be doubled in size.

The Greater Manchester Mentally Healthy Schools and Colleges programme is commissioned by Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership.

It's set to be expanded from the current 64, to a total of 125 schools, colleges and pupil referral units.

The programme provides training and support through:

* Training to become mental health champions for both school leaders and school students

* Mental health first aid training for school staff – allowing them to spot the signs and symptoms, enabling quicker intervention, enabling “difficult conversations” and signpost to appropriate support

* Work with athlete mentors to develop young mental health champions and work with targeted groups to build resilience and develop coping strategies using healthy active lifestyles to prevent stress and anxiety

* One to one support for the more vulnerable children – by appointment with a trained mental health worker

* Support for senior leaders to establish a whole school leadership strategy for mental health and wellbeing

Expansion of the programme will mean one in 10 schools in Greater Manchester is now supported by the project.

It follows the success of the first two phases of the programme, launched in March 2018, which has built the confidence of teachers, support staff and students to deal with mental health issues.

Warren Heppolette, executive lead for strategy and system development at Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “Anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions affect young people’s learning, their happiness and their future prospects.

“We know also that schools and colleges are some of the best places to address this, provide young people with the skills, knowledge and confidence to overcome these problems and prevent problems from getting worse.

“This expansion means more children and young people can build the necessary skills to look after their own wellbeing and to support their peers.”

This project is part of a £134m action plan announced in 2017 to help to transform mental health in Greater Manchester for children and adults.

The overall investment programme – the biggest and most ambitious of its kind in the country – aims not only to put mental health on an equal footing with physical health, but to start to deliver our vision of making sure that no child who needs mental health support will be turned away.


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